The first British fleet to be spotted from the direction of Southampton was the Navy airships L-077, L-089 and L-105, which were responsible for battlefield observation over Bonemouth Beach. On the three zeppelins, floating at an altitude of 4,500 meters, the crews observed the situation on the ground with telescopes and reported changes in the battlefield to the headquarters of the 8th Army set up on the "Border Governor" at any time, as well as transferred to the headquarters of the mixed armored division near the beachhead.

In the era when there was no radar, these airships that could stay at high altitudes for a long time were the most effective "eyes and ears" of the army, and in good weather conditions, their line of sight could exceed 20 kilometers, and the altitude of 4,500 meters was also unattainable by any kind of British aircraft at present, including the "Eagle" fighter with a ceiling of 4,000 meters.

When the Scheer fleet stopped shelling, Tatsuten stayed on the bridge to keep an eye on the situation near the beach, but as the front advanced inland, he had to rely on the reports from the airships for many things. Sometimes he would like to be able to climb on an airship and look down on the battlefield from above, but these big guys filled with hydrogen are really not safe, and boarding such a hydrogen tank undoubtedly provides a good opportunity for those with bad intentions.

"Your Highness, the British fleet in the northeast is about 35 aircraft!"

When Hoffman walked out with the telegram, Chentian and Scheer were both holding binoculars and looking northeast, through which they could already see the black dots flying quickly towards the beach from that direction.

"It's finally here, but the British have more than just a few planes! If they don't take out all the planes and fight with us at this time, will they have a better chance? ”

Hearing the number of British planes in the report, Chen Tian's first reaction was that the general commanding the British air force was either a fool or had some conspiracy. However, it is better not to think of the opposing commander as a fool when fighting, otherwise he is likely to suffer in the end, so he began to think of all possibilities, such as the British using these planes as bait to lure their own planes into their ambush circle, or trying to consume the fuel of those German fighters in the air.

"At present, there is only one batch of reconnaissance airships in the observation range, and I have asked them to pay close attention to the nearby airspace! There is now a squadron of fighters over the aircraft carrier formation that can attack at any time, there is another squadron on the deck of the 'Prince', plus 1 squadron on the airship carrier above the fleet, we can send three squadrons of fighters in a very short time, and it will not be a problem to completely annihilate those British aircraft! ”

In view of the combat performance of the fighters, the carrier-based fighters of the aircraft carrier formation did not directly provide fire support to the landing force, but took turns hovering over the fleet on alert. This time, the three aircraft carriers carried a total of 40 naval "Hummingbird" fighters in two squadrons. The Hummingbird fighter jets were in the air for about 75 minutes to be fully fueled, and if they had taken off from Cherbourg Airport, they would have arrived in Bonemouth with only fuel left for their return flight, making in-flight refueling almost impossible in this day and age.

As for the so-called airship carrier, it is an airship converted from a medium-sized and large Zeppelin, with 1-2 fighters attached to the lower part of the pod, for these air warships with a load capacity of 2-4 tons, it is easy to carry the "Hummingbird" fighter with a total combat weight of only 0.9 tons, and the transformation work to be done is also very simple, that is, to install a pylon and a passage from the airship pod to the fighter cockpit. When the fighter departs, the airship carrier simply releases the hook after the fighter engine is fully running. After the combat mission is completed, the fighters can be returned directly to the Cherbourg airfield, or refueled on the aircraft carrier if they run out of fuel.

At this time, in the sky above the Scheer fleet, 20 "Hummingbird" fighters carried by 15 airship carriers are on standby at any time, and this kind of fighter jets carried by airships also have the advantages of long standby time in the air and short take-off time, but the weakness is also not suitable for use when the airship is huge, the weather is harsh, and the opponent's air power is strong.

"Tell General Benck that all the fighters on deck have taken off and are going to block the British fleet with the fighters who can still support more than 45 minutes of fuel above the fleet, but if the British fleet retreats, the pursuit distance of each fighter must not exceed 5 kilometers! As for the aircraft with little fuel, land as soon as possible to refuel and be ready to take off again as soon as possible! The fighters on the airship carrier formation continue to be on alert, and the pilots are on standby on the plane, ready to strike at any time! Also, how many planes are we still flying over the Bonemouth battlefield now on ground support missions? ”

The Admiral Benck mentioned by Chentian is the captain of the aircraft carrier "Prince", and he is also the commander of the aircraft carrier formation, with the rank of rear admiral of the Imperial Navy, he is not very old, and he has participated in the Battle of Jutland in another world, but he has not performed too prominently.

"Yes!" Hoffman asked his staff officers to contact the aircraft carrier formation, and he quickly calculated the situation of the carrier-based aircraft force on the battlefield in his heart, "At this time, there is still 1 bomber squadron and 1 attack aircraft squadron in the sky over Bonemouth, the bomber squadron has finished dropping bombs and can return at any time, and the attack aircraft squadron does not have much fuel!" ”

"The British came at a good time! In this way, let the attack aircraft squadron cover the bomber squadron to return home, and each aircraft carrier should pay attention to arranging the order of aircraft taking off and landing on the deck, and be sure to take off first and then land! ”

Chen Tian was not very willing to enter into such detailed instructions on the details of the battle, he did not interfere with Guderian's command in the landing battle of the mixed armored division, but aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft played a very important role in this battle, and they were also extremely valuable assets for the country, a small mistake could ruin this fleet and even this landing campaign, plus Chen Tian himself did not know much about General Benke's character and ability, To be on the safe side, he asked Tirpitz for direct command of the aircraft carrier fleet.

Prior to General Benck, the aircraft carrier group was under the direct command of Prince Heydrich, who was commanding the First Detachment of the High Seas Fleet to escort the feint fleet back to Calais and take on the duty of guarding the eastern side of the English Channel. In fact, even Heydrich is not very proficient in the tactics and role of aircraft carriers, which is a very serious and unavoidable "generation gap" problem, before finding a suitable commander of the aircraft carrier formation, Chen Tian can only care and take care of these treasures.

Soon, the "Border Governor" used a liaison signal light to convey Chentian's order to the aircraft carrier formation, and Benke's "Prince" readily replied with a signal: "Obey the order."

Due to the existence of Chentian, the development of German aircraft carriers has avoided many detours, such as the all-through flight deck, island bridge and closed bow so that the first three aircraft carriers have quite excellent performance. Out of consideration for the strategic and tactical role of German aircraft carriers, these three aircraft carriers put the number of aircraft in the first place, and the speed and range, as well as the armor and firepower related to their own defense capabilities, were put in the second place.

The flight decks of these three aircraft carriers are all paved with teak slats, only the ammunition compartment, aviation gasoline compartment and main engine room are equipped with protective armor, and the two sides have thin anti-mine shells and anti-mine inner walls, which can only withstand long-distance attacks from the guns of small and medium-sized warships below the cruiser and attacks from small aerial bombs; The hangar was open, the ship's armament was 120 mm air-engine guns, 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and machine guns, and the sea attack capability was only comparable to that of a cruiser, all of which allowed the German aircraft carrier to be equipped with a relatively large number of carrier-based aircraft.

The "Super Duck Mother" was initially only able to carry 25 fighters or a slightly smaller number of torpedo planes and attack aircraft, but after a large-scale transformation before the outbreak of the war, this number rose to 35; The Lisa was designed to carry 50 fighters or 40 attack aircraft and bombers, while the Prince had 75 fighters or a corresponding number of bombers.

This time, the Benk aircraft carrier formation brought two squadrons of fighters, attack planes, and bombers, as well as two squadrons of reconnaissance planes and one squadron of torpedo planes, bringing the total number of planes of all kinds to nearly 150, plus the 20 planes brought by the airship carriers, and the number of these planes alone exceeded the total number of planes in Britain at present.

In the upper hangar of the Lisa, Lieutenant Colonel Madonny paced back and forth next to his Seahawk II, and the ship's crew was refueling his plane with fuel and ammunition. When the ship heard that he had spotted an enemy plane, he wanted to go up and help himself. It's a pity that this kind of thing can't be done quickly with a lot of people.

"Man, how long will it take for my squadron to take off again?"

Madonie was not in a hurry to complete his record of 100 takeoffs and landings in actual combat, he knew that the squadron of attack planes that took off after his squadron was running out of fuel, and the number of fighters was not enough to fully take into account both the battlefield and the fleet.

"Lieutenant Colonel, it has only been less than 5 minutes since your plane was sent down from the flight deck, and under normal circumstances, it takes us half an hour to refill its fuel and ammunition and send it back to the deck, if you don't load the bomb, you can't finish it in 1 quarter of an hour!" It was a grease-stained crew leader who had known each other from Madoni, so he was not reserved when talking to the heroic lieutenant colonel.

"Now the situation is urgent, the British plane has appeared! Our planes don't need to be loaded with bombs this time, please get them back on deck in 5 minutes! ”

Madonie looked at the group leader with a sincere face, and at this time, the three elevators on the aircraft carrier were busy sending the bombers that had landed before to the hangar, and the crew pushed the planes to the predetermined positions. After the Madonie attack squadron takes off, those attack planes and bombers that are still over the battlefield will return to land, in short, once they enter the combat state, these crew members will be the busiest people on the ship.

"...... like this" The team leader wiped the sweat from his face with his hands, and there was another oil stain on his face, but Madonie didn't smile at all at this time. After two seconds, the team leader turned to the crew who were busy around the plane and shouted:

"That's good! Guys, show the lieutenant colonel our housekeeping skills, get these firepower guys back on deck as fast as we can, and let our heroes ride them to beat the British! If you complete the task in 5 minutes without compromising the quality, I will invite you to London for a beer after the battle! ”

"Good ......" more than a dozen crew members roared confidently, and then devoted themselves to their work.

"Thank you!"

After this, Madonie did not say anything more, he told the other pilots not to leave without permission, and he went to the side of the hangar to call the captain, and by this time he had no time to climb to the command room above.

At this time, over the Bonemouth battlefield, British and German fighters had begun to engage in hand-to-hand combat, which was also the first confrontation between the two air forces since the air battle in London in September. When the 20 German "Sea Hawk II" attack planes bravely went to intercept the British fighter group, the other 20 German "Ostrich I" on the battlefield, which had all dropped bombs, turned to fly towards the aircraft carrier formation, and the blue sea soon appeared under the wings of these "ostriches."

The 35 "Eagle" planes of the British Royal Fighter Unit were imposing as soon as they came up, and after the Battle of London, they were reduced to only a few old reconnaissance planes, and German airships could even fly swaggering across the Channel to bomb at any time, during which time most of the pilots on these fighters were still flight cadets, and some were even just civilians, but anger and grievance had begun to accumulate in their hearts. At that time, there were less than 200,000 standing armies guarding Britain, and almost every British was living in fear, if Germany launched such a large-scale landing attack at that time, the British were afraid that they would have no power to fight back, but unfortunately the main forces of Germany were still concentrated on the French battlefield at that time, and Chentian's 8th Army was still fighting with the Russian army in Poland. By the time Russia and France had all been done, the British air force had finally recovered some of its vitality, and the army force was even more unprecedentedly large, and the only thing that would not "grow" was probably the navy, which the British had once been most proud of; although several new ships were launched every month, the strength of the British navy was decreasing month by month under the combined efforts of German submarines, airships, planes, and destroyers.

In the face of the superior number of British fighters, the pilots of the 2nd Carrier-based Attack Aircraft Squadron were not frightened, and their psychological advantage in air combat was very huge, because whether it was a small-scale air battle or a large-scale air battle, the Luftwaffe never missed a hand against the British Air Force, and basically won by a large margin.

At the beginning of the battle, the British fighter group was at an altitude of about 3,500 meters and was reducing its altitude to increase its flight speed, while the German attack aircraft group, which had just emerged from the battlefield, was at an altitude of 1,500 meters, and they did not rush directly at the British group, but avoided the opponent's front while climbing as high as possible.

During the descent, the British fighter group was constantly turning, and the British pilots tried to incorporate the German group into their scopes, and the German group did not want to give the opposing side a chance to shoot until they were out of a high disadvantage. Finally, at an altitude of 2200 meters, the British fleet had the first opportunity to shoot.

At a distance of about 2 kilometers, the three "Lewis" on the "eagle" opened fire on each other, and the airspace between the two groups was suddenly covered with strings of orange bullets, but because there was enough time to dodge at this distance, the British pilots' shooting did not produce much results, and there were many German planes hit by a few bullets, but only 2 German attack planes were hit in the vital parts, and they began to fall after losing their balance, and 2 white parachutes immediately opened in the air.

At this time, the British also equipped their pilots with parachutes, and the German side temporarily fell behind 0-2 in the first meeting between the two sides, but fortunately no pilot was killed directly by bullets.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to dodge the enemy's bullets, the formation of the German fleet began to disperse, and the German pilots were still prepared to use the two-plane formation tactics they were most familiar with. The British, on the other hand, conducted a detailed study based on their previous experience with the German air force, and this time they solemnly introduced their own three-plane formation tactics, one to attract the opposing host, and two to ambush the opposing wingmen who came to support. There is no obvious superiority or inferiority between Britain and Germany in terms of tactics, and the key is to look at the quality of the pilots on both sides, and the British pilots have very little air training and actual combat experience, and this will affect their tactical performance to a great extent.

At the time of the first long-range shooting, the experienced German carrier-based pilots found that these British fighters were very different from the previous British planes, and the firepower of their three Lewis machine guns could not be underestimated, and in terms of volume, the "Sea Eagle II" was very close to the "Eagle", and the "Eagle" had a slight upper hand in flight speed, and its flexibility had to be competed with by catching and fighting later.

After the first firing of the British group, the formations of aircraft on both sides spread out like two flowers blooming upwards, and everyone was trying to regain the altitude advantage. During those days when they were hiding in the woods airfield, the British pilots did not waste all their time playing cards and bragging, and the experience was taught by pilots who had fought against the German air forces, such as Jimmy, Cary and Gabi, and the other pilots used model airplanes to simulate air combat, so that the British knew at least theoretically very well the basic tactics of the German pilots, plus the technical performance of the various German planes that the British spies had done everything possible to get The British pilots knew even more about the German aviation than they knew about their own aircraft.

After completing the turn, the two sides did not rush to each other, but continued to climb upwards until they approached their respective ceilings, the 3,800 meters of the "Sea Eagle II" and the 4,000 meters of the "Eagle", which is also the most proud place of the "Eagle" fighter designers, because the German army's largest "Hummingbird" fighter ceiling is only 3,700 meters. The British military believed that the British pilots flying the "Eagle" were able to outperform their opponents at least in this respect.

However, the maximum ceiling of the fighters of both sides is not an absolutely accurate number, and the German planes can also climb to higher places at the risk of stalling, while the "Eagle" type, which was hastily put into mass production, has not undergone a sufficient number of test flights, due to technical and resource factors, the performance of the "eagle" engine is not very reliable, and the British pilots, who lack flight training, have hardly made several flights at the maximum altitude limit. In fact, even the designers could not guarantee that the "eagle" engine would be able to maintain stable operation when the altimeter on the aircraft showed 4,000 meters or close to 4,000 meters.